IPSWICH GRAND STEEPLE CHASE.
For many months past, the members of the sporting world, and, indeed, the public generally, looked forward with great interest to the period when these sports would take place; and that interest was in no degree increased, when it was recollected how successfully the sports In 1842 terminated, when not a single accident occurred, to mar the pleasure ordinarily derived from such recreations. It will be borne in mind that the present steeple chase was fixed to come off some time in the course of the last spring ; but that the stewards and the sportsmen interested In the affair, postponed it sine die, in consequence of the fatal accident in Bramford Park, which then terminated the earthly career of the late lamented Lord W. Hill, under whose auspices, especially, the present steeple chase was got up, and which it was anticipated would, if possible, eclipse the interest felt in its predecessor. All parties awarded the due need of commendation to the stewards for the postponement, in deference to the feelings of the public. In the meantime, the necessary delay which ensued, afforded ample opportunity for enabling some of the owners of the best horses in the kingdom, to become competitors; and, from the concurrent testimony of all parties, we may say that, on Thursday last, the Ipswich Steeple Chase presented a sample of the best sport ever witnessed in Suffolk.
The sports came off in the country which lies between Bramford and Claydon, Mr. George Morgan, with his accustomed liberality allowing the course to be staked out through his extensive grounds. By twelve o’clock, some thousands of spectators were assembled together in the valley through which the river Gipping winds its course. Every vehicle seemed to have been put in requisition for the occasion—carriages, coaches, cabs, ‘busses, phaetons, gigs, and even waggons, freighted with country people, who, notwithstanding the coldness of the season, were anxious to be present; and last, though not least, Ipswich supplied its full quota, who flocked down the road in masses, such was the all-pervading interest excited in the issue of the sports. In order to provide the necessary “creature comforts” for so large an influx of people, a row of booths were erected on the ground; and even the lanes in the vicinity were studded here and there with groups of beer stands, which, like their more commodious rivals, ministered in the course of the day, to those who felt disposed to recruit their exhausted energies by imbibing draughts of good October.
For some days before great apprehensions were entertained for the state of the weather, which indicated a change; for it was a matter of certainty that a fall of snow, or a sharp frost of two nights succession, would effectually produce a further postponement of the sports. The previous days had been cold and overcast, and winter appeared to be preparing to put on his frown but to the great satisfaction of the sporting circles, Thursday was a day that forms an exception to the usual diurnal appearances of the season. The sky throughout was without a cloud, and the sun shone in all his splendour. This was very propitious, as the sun’s rays by mid-day, had the effect of relieving the course somewhat of the hardness it had acquired from the preceding nights frost, though not to an extent sufficient to relieve the riders of apprehensions, fortunately unfounded, that accidents might ensue to the horses.
The course marked out by the Stewards was not known to the public until Thursday morning, when it was found to deviate in many respects from that adopted on the last occasion. The starting post was at the north end of a meadow lying on the west side of the Gipping, and equidistant between Claydon and Bramford. As it may be interesting to the uninitiated to know the sort of course selected for the sports, we will describe it: premising that it was pronounced by the riders to be “a very fair one” on some places, though, on the hills, it was “very hard” from the effects of the frost. The course, up to the winning post, was staked off on each side, and guarded by ropes. At the south end of the meadow was the first leap, a hedge; with six trees in the fence, between the red and white flags placed for the guidance of the riders, and a descent of twelve feet, into the next meadow. From this point, the course diverged to the right, over another meadow, intersected with wide drains, across a thorn fence into the Bramford and Claydon road; thence, over a high hedge, into two pieces of summerland, making in all about nine leaps. This was pronounced to be pretty smart work for the horses at starting. Leaving the two summerlands, the course crossed the Blakenham road, involving two leaps, one of an extraordinary nature, the other about 8 feet over a hedge, with six trees between the flags, into a piece of pasture. At the end of this meadow, on the left of the course, and nearly extending to the centre, was a large pond, flanked by trees and whin bushes; on the right were three hay stacks. The only passage at this point appeared to be a five-barred gate, and a small portion of the fence, involving an awkward leap. The course now, leaving Sycamore house on the right, was uphill across a wheat stubble, when the horses arrived at an ugly fence, with three large trees between the flags, about 10 feet apart involving it leap of about 20 feet, into a piece of occupation road in the next field, with deep ruts on either side, and a bank of about three feet in height immediately into the Blakenham road —a spot, the scene of two mishaps at the former steeple-chase. Crossing this road, they had then to leap a fence of about 8 feet, into another turnip field, part of it consisting of ploughed land. They had then to ascend the hill overlooking the valley of Claydon; when they came to a leap of ten feet into a summerland, and then to another Ieap of the same extent, into a piece of fallow, intersected with large heaps of manure. This brought them to a six feet fence and a five-barred gate, with eight trees in the fence between the flags, into a piece of barley on the side of the hill and on the descent into the valley, from whence a beautiful view of the country is obtained for many miles around. Here it was that the horses, after being lost to sight of at starting, became again visible to the spectators on the course. From this spot, they had to proceed across several fields and fences, several involving leaps of 12 feet, and others of 20 feet, into the Bramford and Claydon road, another most dangerous spot, from the road being narrow and lying between two high fences; crossing which, they entered a field of broom, with a very uneven surface, intersected with drains, leading them on the right to what was called the leap–a fence of seven feet, or rather an aperture cut in bushes about 20 feet in height, with a water-course about 9 feet wide on the opposite side, and regarded as the most dangerous leap throughout the course. Two other fences led to the winning post, over an even course. Such is a faint description of the leap, there being forty in a course extending over four miles. Many of the initiated called it a “nobby affair,” and, impelled by curiosity, hundreds inspected the more dangerous leaps during the day, many, unused to such scenes, labouring under the most painful apprehensions for the fate of the horses.
